Press Statement by Official Spokesperson of the STC

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) affirms that the statements of Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) to Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper are disappointingly inaccurate and show a lack of seriousness in the partnership and consensus that emerged from the GCC consultations, and underscores that the cause of the South is a people, homeland, identity, and state emanating from the failure of unification between the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Arab Republic of Yemen, as well as the war of occupation of the South in the summer of 1994, and the right of the people of the South to restore their fully sovereign state.

The STC emphasizes that settling the cause of the South accepts no procrastination or postponement, and it will never be done with the cause in such a manner. As it is clearly stated in the outcomes of the Riyadh consultations, it was agreed to include the cause of the people of the South within the agenda of the negotiations to cease the war and to establish a negotiating framework for it, through which what they call the "form of the state" will be determined by negotiating settlement.

In this respect, the STC finds it odd to obstruct the issuing of the resolution to form the joint negotiating body that was agreed upon and is concerned with negotiating the form of the state, the political system for the transitional period, and the required guarantees. Moreover, the STC highlights that the delay in implementing the commitments contained in the outcomes of the GCC consultations represents a jeopardy that serves neither the future of the partnership nor the entire political process.

Ali Abdullah Al-Kathiri

Official Spokesperson of the Southern Transitional Council (STC)

Member of the STC's Presidium.